/dev/null/kevin

This slashdotted site (here is a new mirror site) talks about a robotic drum machine.  It brought back memories of building my own electronic drum set using piezoelectic sensors.  Even back then in the 1990s, the sensors were quite cheap and we got a bunch from Radio Shack.  At first, we just taped them to pizza boxes and plugged the into a cheap drum machine for sounds.  It was fun for an afternoon's worth of jamming, but not really practical.

So, the next week, I started building a more useful set. Instead of pizza boxes, I used actual Remo practice pads, since they had a realistic feel.  Additionally, they open up easily so you can place the sensor inside. The pads can also be mounted upside down so you're hitting the neoprene side and not the normal head.  This cuts down on the noise of the stick hitting the pad (which you normally want).  I wired up a snare, three toms and a kick drum.  The pads all mount to a practice pad frame that positions the pads like a drum set.

I built some "cymbals" using the front and back of a binder (cut out the middle spine).  It was funny to have rectangular cymbals. I also built a hi-hat out of a small pad and used a foot pedal as the open/close switch.  While it did work, it really wasn't as good as a real hi-hat.

I plugged all of the triggers into an Alesis D4 "brain" that was all the rage back then.  Viola! "Instant" drum set.  We had another jam session that weekend where I showed off the new and improved model.

But the story doesn't end there.  I few weeks later, I was playing in the pit for a performance of Little Shop of Horrors with Stanford's Ram's Head theater group.  The performace "hall" was quite small, and the pit was tiny.  In addition to the space limitation, the room was so small that the band was likely to overpower the singers.  The solution was an all electric band, now possible with my new electric set.  Fortunately, we had a couple more rehearsals to get the kinks worked out.

In the end, the performance was quite successful.  Drums have their best sounds when hit hard because you get all of the overtones, which creates a fuller sound.  I wouldn't have been able to get that same sound quality just playing very softly.  I've played in scores of musical theater shows, and this show remains one of my favorites.  The band was awesome and the cast was terrific.  I was very happy that my little hobby project had such a great payoff.

Since that show, I've used that set, or parts of it, several more times.  I added a DrumKat trigger pad (wow, prices have gone up!) and and keyboard so I can have things like tympani and mallet instruments (glock, chimes, xylophone) where I couldn't before.  I haven't played it in a while (new baby) was even thinking about selling it, but now I think I'll dust it off and set it up again.